In the light of Ebola, is CAF for real?

With over 4,877 Africans dying from Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) out of at least 9,936 cases in 2014, one would expect that the African Union will declare a state of emergency and all focus directed on preventing the spread of this disease which currently has no cure. This urgency is largely required to be attached to the epidemic nations like Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The ECOWAS whose region the deadly disease thrives today, has been doing all it can to find means of curtailing it. However, it cannot be said to be only a West African problem with three nations under threat of a plague wiping them out. It is certainly not only an African problem but a global issue.

Already the EVD has spread its deadly claws in the United States and some parts of Europe. Had it not been Dr. Stella Ameyo Adadevor, Africa’s most populous nation - Nigeria - will be in a crisis by now. With her sacrificial efforts, only five people including herself lost their lives in Nigeria.The source of the EVD was a member of an official delegation from Liberia called Patrick Sawyer.

It cannot be reiterated that this is truly an African and global problem. Help will surely come from outside the continent; however we will be taken serious if we are seen to be serious in making attempts to curtail the EVD.

It is against this background that I think Confederation of African Football (CAF) is not helping matters. Morocco was to host the African Cup of Nations (CAN) 2015 but declined along the line in view of the EVD epidemic. The Moroccans with the fate of Africa at heart cited the Ebola case as reasons for their decline.

CAF would not hear of this and insisted that the games should come on as scheduled. With Morocco still adamant, the host nation was kicked out of the competition and a new host, Equatorial Guinea, came up to replace the North African nation.

Why is CAF not thinking along the same line as Morocco? Why is CAF not concerned about the fate of Africa? Has CAF thought of the possibility of spreading the disease across Africa during and after CAN 2015?

The African Cup of Nations is a continental affair and any football loving person, irrespective of whether his country is participating or not, can freely travel to the country hosting it and watch the matches live from the stadia. It is in the light of this that Guinea is preparing to send a large contingent of supporters to Equatorial Guinea. CAF cannot prevent soccer loving fans from Liberia and Sierra Leone from also attending the event.

As Patrick Sawyer could board a plane as a healthy person but arrive in Nigeria as a sick one, there cannot be any guarantee that all supporters from Guinea would have Ebola-free status.

What if only one or two are unknowingly infected? They can spread the disease to many people in Equatorial Guinea. With all seriousness; is money not given high premium over the health and safety of the entire Africa continent?

If CAF still insists on CAN 2015 taking place in January 2015 in light of the disease still not brought under control, then it must be responsible enough to make sure that all those attending the competition be screened. It must also take full responsibility for any further outbreak of EVD during and after the competition.

Even though news about the disease is not flooding the headlines these days as it used to be, it does not mean that things are normalizing. Any news that comes out from the infected nations sounds more chilling than before. The risk of spreading beyond the three countries is high, real and present. The whole of Africa is highly at risk.

It is about time the AU makes a strong statement on this, if it indeed has Africa interest at heart.

With the EVD destroying lives and families with the potential of spreading across the rest of unaffected African countries, I hope the AU and the entire African leadership sit up and suggest a way forward for the CAN 2015.

In 1977, a national second-tier students’ athletics competition scheduled for Tamale was cancelled due to the outbreak of Cerebral Spinal Meningitis (CSM) in that region. The student athletes were disappointed because the competition was cancelled. Yet, Ghanaians were saved from a national outbreak of CSM.

Can the AU and CAF do the same with regards to the Ebola Virus Disease holding on in parts of Africa? Money in itself is not evil but the love of it is. Let CAF be careful not ransom Africa for just a few dollars.

Hon. Daniel Dugan offinsonibarima@gmail.com